Acute tibia fractures in football, soccer players more likely to develop acute compartment syndrome

Wind T. J Orthop Trauma. 2011. doi: 10.1097/BOT.0b013e3182163367

Football and soccer players should be monitored closely for the development of acute compartment syndrome after sustaining an acute tibia fracture, according to this study from researchers in South Carolina.

The researchers performed a retrospective review of 626 consecutive acute tibia fractures between July 2006 and June 2009 wherein they recorded the type and mechanism of fracture. The researchers also kept watch for the development of acute compartment syndrome (ACS). Injuries sustained during football and soccer were separated into — and analyzed as — specific groups.

According to the study abstract, 34 patients (5.4%) developed ACS. The authors noted this was consistent with the current literature. Eleven patients (1.7%) sustained their injury while playing football, with nine patients (1.4%) sustaining their injury during soccer. However, the authors found ACS developed in five of the nine (55%) soccer players and three (27%) of the football players.

Tibia fractures sustained in football and soccer, the authors found, accounted for 25% of the ACS cases observed — despite accounting for 3.1% of all tibia fractures observed.

“Tibia fractures sustained during soccer and football had a statistically significant association with development of ACS in our patient population during this time period,” the authors wrote. “Such patients should be monitored closely and followed with high clinical suspicion for ACS.”